


What's Your Favourite Food?

by WinglessCrows



Series: Through the Eyes of a Cook [20]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Character Study, Cooking, Food
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-04
Updated: 2018-01-04
Packaged: 2019-02-27 08:40:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13244610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WinglessCrows/pseuds/WinglessCrows
Summary: Sanji has found that there is always a story behind a person's favourite food, and the crew shares theirs.





	What's Your Favourite Food?

 

_Spicy Seafood Pasta_

When people ask Sanji what his favourite food is, he always answers:  _Seafood pasta_. Sanji knows that what people want him to answer is what food he likes the best, but as a chef, he can't really choose. He continuously explores the culinary world and seeks new heights in his world of domain. He never settles for a favourite, because he knows he can push himself to make something better. But that doesn't mean that seafood pasta isn't special to Sanji, because it certainly is. It was the first dish Sanji made that Zeff put on their menu, and unless the old Geezer has changed anything, it's still available for costumers to choose. Of course, Sanji did improve the dish over the years, but it's mostly still the same. Sanji remembers that the dish was popular with children.

Sanji remembers the first person who asked him. He was fifteen and the Baratie had gotten a batch of new chefs and waiters; all of them people who had been saved by Zeff and Sanji from a ship wreck. Within the next three months, none of them would be left, but for now, they were helping out at the floating restaurant. One of them, a twenty-something year old with a beard, came up to Sanji one day, complimented him for his skills despite being young and asked the question. Sanji had never really thought about having a favorite food at that point and had favoured saying seafood pasta over just staring dumbfounded at the guy. That night Sanji had wondered if it was normal to have a favourite dish, and figured that people probably had favourite everything, so why should food be the exception? But Sanji suddenly got curious, because what if he could figure out what kinds of food people preferred by asking them what they liked the best?

Over the next couple of years, Sanji always made sure to ask people what their favourite food was, and while the answered varied drastically and could definitely not be used for actually improving his own cooking, Sanji found that a person's favourite food usually said something about the person. Sometimes there would even be a story involved. Someone would say apple pie because it reminded them of home, another would say salmon dishes because that was the first fish they'd caught, while some would name the dish they'd first learned how to make. Sanji slowly learned that people opened up when food was involved.

When Sanji joined the strawhat crew, he learned that they were full of contradictions. They were kind, but dangerous. They had the worst luck, but were always lucky enough to never be lost. And they were open and had nothing to hide, yet none of them ever spoke a word about their past. Except when Sanji asked.

Sanji had never expected for anyone to open up, yet he wasn't surprised when any of them did. And they all did. Luffy who never spoke of the past and only of the present, Brook who never looked back because all he saw was the looming shadows of loneliness, Usopp who always told grand tales of adventures that had never happened, and even Zoro who rarely spoke a word to Sanji without shouting. They all shared when he asked.

It was always the same when Sanji asked. He'd be alone in the kitchen, preparing a meal or cleaning before going to bed. Someone would come in, tired after a long day or just not fully awake yet, and Sanji would have a cup of tea or coffee ready for them. He always had. And Sanji would ask. Casually, but intrigued:  _what's your favourite food?_ And when Sanji was left alone in the kitchen again, he felt like he knew just a little more about his friend.

* * *

 

_All kinds of Meat_

Luffy's answer was meat. Always predictable. But when Sanji asked why, he got the tale.

"When I was younger," Luffy had started, and Sanji had almost dropped a plate because that was not a sentence he'd ever expected to hear come from Luffy's mouth, and especially not in that musing tone, "I lived with a gang of mountain bandits," Sanji wanted Luffy to elaborate, but was afraid Luffy would forget what story he was telling him, so he kept that question for another day, "I was pretty much on my own in the beginning. I was allowed to live with them, but I had to provide my own food if I wanted anything but a single bowl of rice everyday.

"So I'd go hunting in the mountains. At first it was just me, after awhile Ace was there as well, and then Sabo. When I had been alone, all I could ever manage to catch were rabbits and squirrels, but when it was the three of us, we went after all the monsters that lived in the mountains. We almost died a couple of times," Luffy said that with a smile, and Sanji couldn't help but think that he'd never seen Luffy do anything so Luffy-like; smiling when recalling a near death experience, "When there was meat on the table it meant that it had been a good day, so I really started loving it," Luffy finished with a smile and Sanji knew that would be the last Luffy would say about his past... at least for now.

Nonetheless, Sanji now knew that he'd always make the best meat whenever they had something amazing to celebrate, or maybe just when the crew wasn't feeling their best. It would be sure to lighten Luffy's mood if he did that.

* * *

 

_White Rice, Sea king Meat, and anything that complements Ale_

Zoro was a little more difficult to get to open up, but he got there eventually.

"Why do you want to know?" Zoro had scoffed, but he had not left the kitchen despite Sanji having provided his drink, and remained seated by the counter.

"I'm the chef," Sanji had retorted calmly, "Am I not supposed to know stuff like that?"

Zoro had rolled his eyes, but answered him either way.

"That's a little... boring..." Sanji said after awhile, trying to provoke Zoro into elaborating on his answer.

"When I left my dojo, I'd usually eat in some bar or I'd find my own food. Rice is easily obtained and if you know what you're doing killing a sea king, especially in the East, is not really that hard. I guess it just became a habit, but I quite liked it. It was a good routine." At that point Zoro seemed annoyed that he'd just told Sanji all that and promptly left the kitchen after downing his tea. Sanji smiled to himself when he'd left. The swordsman was a lot softer than he tried to make it look like.

* * *

 

_Mainly tangerines as well as other kinds of fruit_

Sanji felt like he already knew Nami's favourite before he even asked her. Nojiko had told them (Sanji, Usopp and a sleeping Zoro) about their past, so Nami's answer came as no surprise.

"Predictable, am I not?" Nami said and looked slightly sad for a short while as she gripped the cup in front of her. But when she looked back up at Sanji she smiled brightly, "We were always poor and could hardly afford meat, but the villagers always gave us fresh fruit. Of course, we had the tangerines, but we couldn't live on that alone and we were supposed to sell them, not eat them. Sometimes, when Nojiko and I went out to sell the tangerines, we would come back with more fruit than money," she laughed at the memory. Sanji smiled sweetly at her and started slicing up the fresh fruit he'd use for today's dessert.

* * *

 

_Pike from an autumn island as well as other Fish from the season, hates Mushrooms._

Sanji figured that Usopp would tell some grand tale explaining his quite specific answer, but he didn't.

"There wasn't much to do in my village, especially when I was younger. I was a bit of an outcast, so I would usually spend time in the forest or by the seashore waiting for my dad to return. The villagers were kind enough to give me food, but I always hated relying on them, so I started trying to find food for myself. I made my own fishing rod and experimented with bait, and while it didn't always go as planned, I quite often found myself with more fish than I could eat. Especially in autumn.

"So I'd trade with the villagers. I gave them fish and they gave me all their stupid gadgets which they found useless, but I didn't. However, fish aren't always easy to catch, so sometimes I'd have nothing to eat but mushrooms – they grew all year round after all – but it got really tiring after awhile, so I try to stay away from it as much as possible." Usopp sighed and took a sip of his morning coffee. "Autumn fish was always a luxury and people were willing to pay a lot for them, but they tasted so good that sometimes I just kept them for myself," he smiled at that.

Sanji slightly wished the next island would be an autumn one. He was sure he could cook pike to perfection.

* * *

 

_Cotton Candy, Chocolate, and other Sweet foods and drinks_

Chopper's answer was so known that it was even on his bounty poster, yet Sanji was quite curious as to why a doctor would have sweets as their favourite food.

"I had always just eaten what I could find... Berries, nuts, that sort of thing, so when Dr. Hiluruk took me to the village for the first time, I was amazed by all the different kinds of food. We took a sweets stall in exchange for medicine and I remember that I thought it was the best day in my life. I always thought of sweets as something special since we didn't go to the village too often and we always needed something more than we needed sweets, but Dr. Hiluruk would sometimes take a little piece of chocolate for me when he could," Chopper put down his now empty cup of hot cocoa.

"Of course, Doctorine didn't allow too many sweets, but she always got me some for my birthday. And we'd go down to the village and watch the Christmas lights together..." He trailed off, lost in the memory.

Sanji gave him a refill and topped the hot cocoa with whipped cream and marshmallows.

* * *

 

_Sandwiches, Cakes that aren't too sweet, and food that complements Coffee_

"Is there always a story behind the answer?" Robin asked after she had taken a slow sip of her hot coffee.

"Yes," Sanji answered and poured a cup for himself. It was very early in the morning after all, "Always."

"I guess I have different reason for all of them," she almost asked herself and put a finger to her chin as if she was in deep thought. Sanji knew she was just teasing him.

"When I lived with my aunt, I was mostly just allowed to eat leftovers, but sometimes they allowed me to make a sandwich. It was the only time I could take as much food as I wanted and eat exactly what I wanted. One time I made a sandwich with only cheese and tomatoes. It wasn't very good, but it felt like I was breaking some secret rule, and I guess that was kind of exciting."

She looked at Sanji as if he could understand what she meant. He did. He had done the same thing, but with eggplants instead of tomatoes. It really hadn't been very good.

"Cakes were like a luxury," Sanji had heard this phrase a couple of times now, both from his crew mates and fellow chefs on the Baratie, "but I was never a fan of sweet stuff. I really liked the cakes with fruit in them.

"Coffee has always been a special friend I guess," Robin said and allowed Sanji to give her another cup, "Sometimes I'd go days without sleep. Either I was on the run and couldn't afford sleep, or I was studying... though I guess I still do that," she chuckled, "So it was always nice to have some food that complemented the drink that kept me awake." She smiled at him, already halfway through her second cup.

The topic changed to the book she was currently reading.

* * *

 

_Hamburgers, French Fries, and food that complements Cola_

"It was the celebration meal," Franky explained downing his cola in one swift movement, "It was always Kokoro who cooked for us, but honestly she wasn't as good as she thought. So Tom-san always took us to this burger place when he wanted to celebrate something. It didn't even matter what it was; Birthdays, New Years, sometimes just a good day, it didn't really matter. Sometimes, if the mood was sour, he'd invent some sort of holiday and we'd go out."

Franky opened his next bottle before he continued: "Iceburg and I never fought when we went out. We didn't want to get a restraint, you know? We both liked the place a lot, so we were always really nice. Often we'd forget that we were even fighting... Those were the times~" Franky sang.

"Eventually the place closed because of the Aqua Laguna, so we tried to recreate the recipes. Sometimes we were up until morning trying to get the different parts right, but we never really got it... I bet you could do it though. In fact, your burgers are probably better than the ones from the diner."

"I'll take that as a huge compliment," Sanji smiled and with that decided what to make for dinner.

* * *

 

_Tea and Takoyaki_

"We always had a lot of tea," Brook explained, "We were musicians after all, and tea is soothing, so we had a lot. We treasured tea more than actual treasure, yohoho~" Brook laughed, "So even in fifty years I never ran out of tea. You would think I'd grow tired of it, but I never did. It was just... soothing," he finished.

"And takoyaki?" Sanji asked.

"Don't you remember Sanji-san?" Brook tilted his head, but Sanji remained silent, "It was the first meal I had on this ship. It was heavenly!" Brook exclaimed, "Of course, Sanji-san, nothing is better than your food, but I hadn't eaten in  _decades!_ And it was so delicious. Nothing will ever compare, yohoho~"

"I'm glad you appreciated it," Sanji chuckled, remembering the day quite clearly now, "Usopp nearly drowned getting his hands on those octopi."

"Oh my!" Brook gasped and took a sip of his tea to calm himself down and asked for the rest of that story. Sanji was happy to retell it.


End file.
